Sid: "The trouble with Smith is that he is too good a guy"

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BleedGopher

BleedGopher

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"Reasons for 0-3 start

There is no doubt that the Gophers men's basketball team would be 3-0 rather 0-3 in Big Ten play had it not lost 6-8 standout forward Trevor Mbakwe for the season because of a knee injury.

And there would have been a chance for Mo Walker to help out in place of Mbakwe, but it looks as if the 6-10 sophomore, still recovering after suffering his own knee injury in December 2010, will be redshirted this season.

Most coaches won't release players who are under scholarship, but Gophers coach Tubby Smith has been too lenient in my opinion.

You have the case of guards Devoe Joseph, who would be a senior this year and is now leading Oregon in scoring with a 13.4 average, and Justin Cobbs, who left here after his freshman year and now is averaging 12.4 points for California.

Then there was Colton Iverson, released from his scholarship in March. He left for Colorado State and is putting in a transfer year but would have been a big plus on a depleted frontcourt this year.

Smith did everything he could to keep Royce White, but he wound up transferring to Iowa State, where on Wednesday he led the Cyclones to a big victory over Texas and is the big reason his team is 11-3.

The trouble with Smith is that he is too good a guy. He didn't have to grant those releases, but he did. Joseph, Cobbs and Iverson would have made this team a lot better. And the presence of White would have made the Gophers a Big Ten title contender without a doubt."

http://www.startribune.com/sports/vikings/136783563.html

Go Gophers!!
 

When I read the title of the thread, I thought Sid was going in a different direction. I always cringe when I hear opposing coaches and/or announcers talk about what a "great guy" Tubby is, especially opposing coaches. I always read in to that as "Tubby doesn't step on my toes in recruiting like these A-Holes do" and I personally want a coach that does everything possible to win. If Tubby is infringing on Izzo or Weber's territory, I think they would find him a little less friendly, it's just the nature of competition.

Instead, Sid seems to suggest that Tubby is too nice to kids who want to transfer? Tubby almost went out of his way to say "bye bye" to Colton Iverson with his comments following his releas and his comments about Eliason in comparision to Colt at a later date. Does anyone believe Tubby wanted Devoe or Justin to stay? I am sure Tubby regrets letting Devoe leave after the fact, but I bet Devoe regrets leaving knowing that Nolen's injury would have given him 35 minutes a game by default.

Maybe Tubby is too nice in some ways, but I don't agree with the idea that he's too nice in letting kids transfer. He was probably too nice in the Ben Brust recruitment as an example.
 

And how many players do you want on a team that don't want to be there.
 

BleedGopher said:
Most coaches won't release players who are under scholarship
Click to expand...

That's just a flat-out, blatant falsehood. So, when the premise is so totally wrong, the entire article becomes irrelevant. Much like most of Sid's work nowadays.
 

Smith did not do everything to keep White, if smith is so nice why do players transfer? they did not win last year with trevor
 


The stuff said in this article is ridiculous nonsense. The writer is out of touch with reality on this topic.
 

Don't know most on here actually follow college bball, but coaches nearly ALWAYS grant a release. It's totally unrealistic to force a kid to stay who doesn't want to be there. Wrecks the team chemistry, the kid doesn't put in any effort, the team knows he doesn't want to be there, etc. Who wants a kid moping around practice, team buses, the bench, etc. all day?

Just look at Martelli at St. Joe's and the backlash he's getting there now. Simply put, you NEVER hear of a kid not being granted his release when he wants to transfer.

I appreciate Sid, but he's way off on this one.
 


Why would any coach want to beg for a player to stay with his program if they don't want to, the coach recruited that player for a long time, so he has to know that the coach has seen something in him, come to campus, do what your suppose to do and take the heat. Many players think that some coaches are to hard on their players but that's just the name of the game and everyday isn't going to be pretty. Yes, I have seen Tubby get all in his players but have you seen video of Frank Martin, Bob Knight, Rick Pitino in practices?
 




In fact, before the Martelli/O'Brien situation came up this year, the last coach I recall who refused to let a player leave was Tubby while at Kentucky with Joe Crawford. It actually worked alright for both parties, as Crawford turned out to a solid four year contributor (this occurred during his freshman year), but it leads one to believe that given Tubby's experience with Crawford, if he really wanted players to stay such as Joseph, Cobbs, Iverson, etc. he would know how to go about doing so.
 

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